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ON THE MINES AND MINERAL 



account of the mines and the method of working them, constitute the larger 

 portion of the paper. I have added such suggestions as have occurred 

 to me, for the improvement of the more obviously defective processes. 

 But possessing little (if any) knowledge of practical mining, it is very pos- 

 sible that my suggestions may not be always improvements. The reader 

 will take them for so much as they are worth, and no more. 



As the subject is a popular one, I shall not affect any precision or 

 refinement of method, but endeavour to communicate the little I know in 

 the most intelligible form I can ; guided only by convenience as to the 

 order in which I shall notice the different substances. They may be 

 divided, then, into two sections — the first to consist of those which do not 

 furnish metal, the latter, including all the metallic ores. 



I. 



Of minerals, not useful to the metallurgist, though otherwise produc- 

 tive, the following are found : 



1 . Sulphur. 



2. Green Sulphate of Iron. 



3. Alum. 



4. Bitumen. 



5. Graphite. 



6. Gypsum. 



7. Limestone, and 



8. Potstone, or Indurated Talc. 



I shall bestow a few words on each of these, and then proceed to the 

 second section, comprising the Metallic Minerals. 



1 . — Sulphur. 



